“Sick in a Hospital Town” by Ginger Thompson, with research by Doris Burke, won the 2026 Dori J. Maynard Justice Award from the Poynter Institute. The Poynter Journalism Prizes honor journalists and news organizations across platforms for exceptional work in 12 categories for writing, reporting, innovation and leadership.
“ProPublica told an astounding story about how a health care system preyed on thousands of unsuspecting African Americans in Georgia. While a nonprofit on paper, Phoebe Putney Health System fueled itself with money, greed and power. The series’ ambitious research and reporting detailed how Black people — regardless of their status in Albany — were immune from the systemic failures in the health care system,” the judges said in their citation.
